Methods and Apparatus for Presenting Offers to Qualified Consumers

ABSTRACT

A system which allows identification of a consumer as belonging to a designated category and makes special offers available to consumers who are members of the designated category is described. The system comprises a database of offers accessible through connection by consumer operated computers upon authentication of consumer registration, an offer presentation module for controlling access to the database of offers and a consumer registration module allowing registration of a consumer for access to the database of offers. The consumer registration module allows registration of a consumer upon submission of identifying information provided to the consumer by a party who has identified the consumer as belonging to a designated category and used to identify the consumer as belonging to the designated category.

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 11/743,334 filed May2, 2007 which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 09/682,851 filed Oct.24, 2001 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to advantageous methods formarketing of products, offers or the like. More particularly, theinvention relates to techniques for identifying consumers who aremembers of a designated category which has been judged to be a desirablemarket for a class of products and presenting special offers toconsumers who have been identified as members of the designatedcategory.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many life events and activities, such as high school or collegegraduation, marriage, childbirth, sending children to college,relocation and the like create a need for products and services. Suchevents present significant opportunities for marketing efforts directedtoward consumers engaging in a particular activity. Relocation of afamily, to take a particular example, frequently creates needs for aparticular set of products or services. The act of relocating generatesrequirements for goods and services related to making the move, such asmoving and storage services, packing material, truck rental and thelike, as well as requirements for goods and services related to takingup the new residence such as insurance, utility services, schoolregistration, furniture, groceries and the like. A relocating family hasa set of needs which can be easily anticipated. Because the activitiesinvolved in relocation frequently occur in a known sequence and becausethe time occupied by each activity can be estimated with reasonablereliability, the approximate times at which the family will needparticular goods or services can be anticipated. Identifying arelocating person or family therefore provides a significant marketingopportunity to a number of vendors, and the value of the marketingopportunity increases with the certainty with which the prospectiveconsumer is identified as a genuine relocating consumer.

Because a relocating family often spends a considerable sum in arranginga move and purchasing products or services needed after the move, avendor will frequently be willing to extend special offers to such afamily. These offers can be significantly more valuable than those whichwould be offered to other prospective consumers. However, a particularlylucrative offer advertised generally in an effort to reach relocatingconsumers might induce prospective consumers to falsely claim that theywere relocating, and it is difficult for a vendor to determine whether aconsumer who claims to be preparing to engage in a particular activitysuch as relocating is telling the truth. The vendor cannot inquire tooclosely into the consumer's personal affairs for fear of alienating theconsumer. The vendor cannot reasonably ask for a deposit or credit cardguarantee because a consumer is unlikely to part with money or a creditcard number unless he or she is actually buying a product or service. Inthe present state of the art, therefore, a vendor cannot easily preventoffers directed toward a specific category of consumers from being usedby persons not in the category.

Moreover, it is often difficult for a vendor to discover that aparticular consumer is relocating, particularly early in the relocationprocess. Many of the actions which identify a consumer as relocatingoccur shortly before, or after, the consumer has moved to a newresidence. For example, a consumer typically enters a change of addressorder so that the consumer's mail will be properly delivered to the newresidence. If a vendor finds out that a consumer has entered a change ofaddress order, the vendor can identify the consumer as being about tochange, or having recently changed, addresses. Such an identificationallows the vendor to include the consumer in marketing efforts directedtoward similar consumers. In most cases, however, the move is imminentor has already occurred by the time a consumer needs to enter a changeof address order, and the typical consumer has already arranged for orused many products and services related to a move. For example packingsupplies and moving services or truck rental would have already beenarranged for or used by the time a consumer has typically entered achange of address order. Companies offering products or services whichare typically arranged early in the relocation process do not gain muchbenefit by identifying relocating consumers as a result of events whichoccur later in the relocation process.

There exists, therefore, a need for a system which will identify aconsumer as engaging in a specific activity identified with a marketingopportunity, using information which the consumer will be willing toprovide, and which identifies the consumer early in the process of hisor her engaging in the activity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to meet this need, one aspect of the present invention providesa system which allows identification of a consumer as belonging to adesignated category and providing consumers so identified with offers,comprising a database of offers accessible through connection byconsumer operated computers upon authentication of consumerregistration, an offer presentation module for controlling access to thedatabase of offers and a consumer registration module allowingregistration of a consumer for access to the database of offers. Theconsumer registration module allows registration of a consumer uponsubmission of identifying information provided to the consumer by aparty who has identified the consumer as belonging to a designatedcategory and used to identify the consumer as belonging to thedesignated category.

In another aspect, a process is provided of presenting offers toconsumers who are members of a designated category, comprising the stepsof providing a consumer with an identifier upon verification of theconsumer's membership in the designated category by a party providingthe identifier, receiving the identifier when presented by the consumer,authenticating the identifier, allowing the consumer to register his orher identity after successful authentication of the identifier, and uponcompletion of registration, allowing the consumer access to a selectionof offers.

A more complete understanding of the invention, as well as furtherfeatures and advantages of the invention, will be apparent from thefollowing Detailed Description and from the claims which follow below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a consumer identification and offer presentationsystem according to an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates process of consumer identification and registrationaccording to an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a process of consumer login and offer selectionaccording to an aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an initial entry web page according to anaspect of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an initial registration selection web page accordingto an aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate aspects of an initial registration formaccording to an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an initial web page displayed after registrationsubmission according to an aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a web page displaying a privacy policy and amechanism for accepting or rejecting the privacy policy according to anaspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a web page displayed upon login to an offerpresentation system according to an aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate a web page reached after selecting anoffer, the web page presenting a form to be submitted using an offerpresentation system according to an aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 11A-11C illustrate a web page reached after submission of the formillustrated in FIGS. 10A and 10B; and

FIG. 12 illustrates a web page displaying a limited set of offerspresented using a system according to an aspect of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a consumer identification and offer presentationsystem 100 according to an aspect of the present invention. The system100 provides a way to identify a consumer as belonging to a designatedcategory, in this case persons who have applied for or made seriousinquiries about home loans with a particular lender, the lender being amember of a group of lenders who have subscribed to services provided bythe system 100, and to present offers to that consumer. Identifyingconsumers in connection with inquiries about a home loan providessignificant advantages. Consumers who have applied for home loans havein most cases already entered into purchase contracts for the realestate connected with the loan. Customers who have made seriousinquiries about home loans but have not yet applied for the loan mayalso have entered into a purchase contract or may be seriously engagedin searching for a suitable home. It can be expected that a largeproportion of such consumers are true relocating consumers. Moreover,consumers typically apply for or inquire about home loans early in therelocation process. Therefore, identification of a consumer as soon ashe or she applies for or inquires about a home loan allows for marketingof products and services tailored to all stages of the relocationprocess. The system 100 illustrates an embodiment of the presentinvention which is oriented toward the identification, and directing ofoffers to, borrowers who have applied for home loans or who have madeserious inquiries with a participating lender such that the lenderregards the borrower as a serious prospect for a loan. The use of theterm “borrower” as used herein will include both persons who haveactually applied for a loan and persons who have made inquiries with aparticipating lender and are eligible for use of the system 100.

It will be recognized that the system 100 may easily be adapted to limitparticipation to borrowers who have actually applied for a loan. It willfurther be recognized that a system similar to the system 100 may easilybe designed to allow for consumers belonging to any desired category tobe identified, for example, persons who have reserved a hall for awedding, persons who are seniors in college, or any category which itmay be desirable to designate in order to direct marketing of productsor services to members of that category in a targeted manner.

The system 100 includes a server 102 operated by a service provider 104.The server 102 communicates with a plurality of borrower operatedcomputers, for example the computers 106A-106D, and may also communicatewith various lender computers 108A and 108B maintained by or providingservices to lenders 110A and 110B. Communication with the server 102,the remote borrower computers 106A-106D and the lender computers 108Aand 108B is preferably accomplished through a publicly accessiblenetwork 111, such as the Internet. The service provider 104 typicallyhas contracts with each of a plurality of lenders, including the lenders110A and 110B as well as lenders 110C and 110D, who in the presentexample do not maintain computers having a connection to the server 102.Many more borrowers, borrower computers, lenders and lender computerscan be included in the system 100, but for simplicity in illustrationand discussion, only four borrower computers, four lenders and twolender computers are shown here.

The server 102 maintains a database 114 of offers and discounts providedby various vendors under contract with the service provider 104, as wellas an offer presentation module 116 for controlling access to the offersand a consumer registration module 118 which allows identification andregistration of borrowers and maintenance and storage of borrowerinformation. When a borrower applies for or inquires about applying fora mortgage from a lender, the lender may suitably provide the borrowerwith an identifier and password uniquely identifying that lender. Thelender typically also tells the borrower about the system for providingoffers and may provide the borrower with instructions for connecting toand registering with the server computer 102. The lender may provide theborrower with the identifier and password and additional information andinstructions required for access to the system 100 by one or more of anumber of means, such as personal conversation with a loan officer, byproviding this information as part of a package of printed materialfurnished to the borrower, or other suitable means. If desired, thesystem 100 may be designed so that lenders limit participation to thosecustomers who have actually applied for a loan. Alternatively, thesystem 100 may be designed so that some lenders limit participation tocustomers who have applied for a loan and other lenders allowparticipation to both actual loan applicants and persons judged to beserious prospects. Allowing or disallowing participation by a borroweror prospective borrower is easily achieved by providing or withholdingthe identifier and password and instructions for connecting to andregistering with the server 102.

In this example, borrower A, a customer of the lender 110A, receives theidentifier and password from the lender 110A. Borrower A uses hiscomputer 106A to connect to a website 120A hosted on the computer 108A.The website 120A contains a hypertext link to a website 122 hosted onthe server 102. The website 122 may suitably be used by both the offerpresentation module 116 and the registration module 118 to provide aninterface for communicating with a consumer such as borrower A. Whenlinked from the website 120A, the website 122 displays a promotionalmessage from the lender 110A. The website 122 presents borrower A withan initial validation web page which allows him to enter the identifierand password supplied by the lender 110A. Borrower A is then taken to aregistration web page in which he is allowed to enter a unique usernameand password as well as personal information. The website 122 thendisplays a login web page which allows borrower A to gain access tovarious offers which are displayed as hypertext links on the login webpage by agreement between the provider 104 and the lender 110A.

By clicking on a chosen hypertext link, borrower A can connect to anoffer website and display an offer web page which displays offerinformation. Because the consumers using the system 100 tend to beparticularly attractive consumers, the offers provided mayadvantageously be better for the consumers than typical promotionsgenerally offered. The offer website and offer web page typicallycontain promotional material identifying the system 100 and welcomingthe borrower as a user of the system 100.

The offer information may take the form of a description of an offer ordiscount, an order form or an online coupon. If desired, any number ofalternative formats may be used. Each offer website may, depending onarrangements between the service provider 104 and the vendor making theoffer, be hosted on the server 102 or another server maintained by theprovider 104, or alternatively a server maintained by the vendor or byanother party providing hosting services to the vendor.

As borrower A navigates through the various links, the originalidentifier which borrower A used during registration is retained andincluded in each link. Whenever borrower A seeks access to an offer, thelender 110A is identified to the vendor originating the offer as thelender who introduced borrower A to the system 100. If desired, theidentification of the lender 110A can be used to direct the inclusion ofa promotional message from the lender 110A on the offer page.Statistical information indicating how many borrowers referred by eachlender accessed each of the various offers can also be maintained andused by the service provider and the various vendors and lenders to makejudgments about which offers should be included and how the offersshould be presented. Moreover, personal information previously suppliedby borrower A is typically also provided to the vendor for use increating offer materials such as online coupons or coupons for mailing.This information may, with permission from borrower A, be retained bythe vendor and used in marketing efforts directed toward borrower A. Useof the system 100 identifies borrower A as a particularly attractiveconsumer and the collection of information relating to such consumersmay be highly advantageous to vendors.

As a further example, borrower C initiates contact with the system 100by establishing a connection between her computer 106C and the website122 hosted on the server computer 102. Borrower C has previously beenpresented with a lender identifier and password by lender 110C. Lender110C does not maintain a computer having a connection with the server102, but instead simply provides borrower C with a universal resourcelocator (URL) 124 directing borrower C to the website 122. The URL 124provided to borrower C may simply be the normal address of the website122. Alternatively, however, the URL 124 may be a special URL, which maysuitably be provided to the lender 110C by the service provider 104 andwhich directs internet browsers to the website 122. The special URL mayinclude a name similar to that of lender 110C. Use of the URL to connectto the website 122 may suitably supply the website 122 with specialinformation and may thereby cause the display on the website 122 ofpromotional material related to the lender 110C. Upon establishing aconnection with the website 122, borrower C registers with and uses thesystem 100 in the same manner as does borrower A as described above.

FIG. 2 illustrates a process 200 of borrower registration and offerselection according to the present invention. The process 200 mayadvantageously be carried out using a system similar to the system 100of FIG. 1. At step 202, after a borrower has been judged to be a seriousprospect for a home loan, for example because he or she has applied foror inquired about applying for a home mortgage with a lender, a lenderidentifier and password unique to that lender are provided to theborrower. The borrower is also informed that special offers can beaccessed and is given instructions on how to use the identifier andpassword in order to register and gain access to the offers. Theinstructions may specify that the borrower connect to the lender'swebsite and select a link found there, or may alternatively specify thatthe borrower link directly to an initial registration and offerselection website.

At step 204, in response to the borrower's connection to the initialregistration and offer selection website, either by navigating from thelender's website or by directly connecting to the initial registrationand offer selection website, an initial entry web page is presentedallowing the borrower to enter the previously supplied identifier andpassword. The initial entry web page may suitably include options forregistration by new borrowers or for login by already registeredborrowers. If the initial entry web page has been reached by navigationfrom the lender's website, the initial entry web page may suitablyinclude promotional material identifying or chosen by the lender. Atstep 206, upon entry of the identifier and password by the borrower, theidentifier and password are authenticated. If authentication fails, theprocess proceeds to step 208, the borrower is notified thatauthentication failed and given an opportunity to reenter the identifierand password, and the process returns to step 206. If authenticationpasses, the process proceeds to step 210 and a registration web page ispresented giving the borrower an opportunity to select a custom usernameand password and requesting that the borrower supply specifiedinformation, such as name, address, telephone, and email address. A setof fields is preferably presented to allow user entries.

At step 212, in response to a borrower entry such as clicking on anicon, the fields entries are examined to confirm that valid entries havebeen made in all required fields. If proper entries have not been made,the process proceeds to step 214, the fields where correction isrequired are highlighted and the borrower is given an opportunity tocorrect the entries. The process then returns to step 212. If properentries have been made, the process proceeds to step 216 and aconfirmation page is presented showing the username and password, aswell as a statement of terms which the borrower is asked to accept ordecline. In response to the borrower's selection to decline thestatement of terms, the process proceeds to step 218 and a notice isdisplayed that the terms of service must be accepted in order forregistration to be completed, but that the borrower is free to acceptthe terms of service and complete registration or else to reregister atany time. The process then returns to step 216. If the borrower acceptsthe terms of service, the process proceeds to step 220 and thepreviously entered information is stored and a welcome page ispresented, including the username, password, various selections ofchoices such as a selection to update the borrower profile, and aselection of available offers with each offer suitably being presentedas a hypertext link accompanied by explanatory text.

Next, at step 222, in response to the borrower's selection of an offer,such as clicking on a hypertext link, a connection is made to a serverhosting a web page with offer details and one or more mechanisms fortaking advantage of the offer, for example linking to a signup or orderform, displaying an online coupon for printing, displaying a discountidentification code or other desirable ways to take advantage of theoffer. In making the connection to the offer, the borrower'sidentification and the identification code provided to the borrower bythe lender are provided to the server hosting the offer web page, inorder to allow the collection of statistical information relating to thetypes of borrowers who obtain access to the various offers,distinguishing borrowers accessing an offer for the first time fromborrowers who are accessing the offer for a second or subsequent time,and identifying a borrower accessing an offer as coming from aparticular lender. Providing the borrower and lender identification alsoallows the offer web page, if desired, to display welcoming informationdirected to the specific borrower or to provide promotional informationrelating to the lender who originally referred the borrower to thesystem. At step 224, appropriate actions are taken in response toborrower inputs, such as displaying online forms for information entryand accepting and processing the information provided using these forms,displaying online coupons, or other appropriate actions selected by theborrower. At step 226, in response to a borrower action, for example,closing an Internet browser window used to display the offerinformation, display of the offer is terminated. Steps 222-226 may becarried out as desired by the borrower. At step 228, in response to aborrower selection such as logout or closing of a browser window used tomake the initial connection to the system, the process terminates.

FIG. 3 illustrates a process 350 of login and offer selection accordingto the present invention. The process 350 is carried out after theinitial registration described in connection with FIG. 2 has beencompleted successfully. At step 352, in response to the borrower'sconnection to the website previously connected to in step 206 of FIG. 2,an initial entry web page is presented allowing the borrower to enterthe borrower identification and password previously chosen atregistration. At step 354, upon entry of the borrower identifier andpassword, the borrower identifier and password are authenticated. Ifauthentication fails, the process proceeds to step 356, the borrower isnotified that authentication has failed and is given an opportunity toreenter the borrower identifier and password and the process returns tostep 352. If authentication passes, the process proceeds to step 358 anda welcome page is presented, including the username, password, variousselections of choices such as a selection to update the borrowerprofile, and a selection of available offers with each offer suitablybeing presented as a hypertext link accompanied by explanatory text.

At step 360, in response to the borrower's selection of an offer, suchas clicking on a hypertext link associated with the offer, a connectionis made to a server hosting a web page with offer details and one ormore mechanisms for taking advantage of the offer, for example linkingto a signup or order form, displaying an online coupon for printing,displaying a discount identification code or other desirable ways totake advantage of the offer. The server is typically operated by or fora vendor making the offer. In making the connection to the offer, theborrower's identification and the identification code provided to theborrower by the lender are provided to the server hosting the offer webpage, as well as personal information relating to the borrower such asthe borrower's name and address. By receiving the borrower'sidentification as well as the identification code provided by thelender, the vendor is able to collect statistical information relatingto the types of borrowers who obtain access to the various offers,distinguishing borrowers accessing an offer for the first time fromborrowers who are accessing the offer for a second or subsequent time,and identifying a borrower who is accessing an offer as being associatedwith a particular lender. Identification of the borrower may also beused to insure that the borrower meets predefined conditions which havebeen previously established in order to control access to offers. Theseconditions may include, for example, the condition that the borrower hasnot previously accessed the offer or has accessed only a specifiednumber of times within the previous month, or that only a specifiedtime, such as one year, has passed since the borrower's initialregistration with the system 100.

Providing the borrower and lender identification also provides theability for the offer web page, if desired, to display welcominginformation directed to the specific borrower or to provide promotionalinformation relating to the lender who originally referred the borrowerto the system. The web page may suitably present information aboutpossible uses of the borrower's personal information. For example, theweb page may state that the borrower's personal information will be usedin order to mail a coupon which is part of the offer. In addition, theweb page may request consent for continued storage of the borrower'spersonal information and its use for marketing efforts directed towardthe borrower.

At step 362, appropriate actions are taken in response to borrowerinputs, such as displaying online forms for information entry andaccepting and processing the information provided using these forms,displaying online coupons, or other appropriate actions are taken inresponse to a selection by the borrower. The borrower typically makessuch selections in choosing and accepting an offer. Selections mayinclude entering information in a form and submitting the form, choosingto allow or reject the storage and use of the borrower's personalinformation or responses to other requests and information presented bythe web page. At step 364, in response to a borrower action, for exampleclosing an Internet browser window used to display the offerinformation, display of the offer is terminated. Steps 360-364 may becarried out as needed in response to commands. At step 366, in responseto the borrower's selection to update the profile, an update web page ispresented containing data fields containing the registration informationpreviously submitted, as well as a “submit” link which the borrower canclick to submit the updated information, and “return” link which thebuyer can click to abort the update process and return to the welcomeweb page. Some of the data fields may be editable in order to furnishcorrected or updated information, while some of the data fields maycontain unchangeable information such as the lender identification andpassword. The borrower is free to edit the editable data fields asdesired and click either the “submit” link or the “return” link. If theborrower clicks the “return” link, the process returns to step 358. Ifthe borrower clicks the “submit” link, the process proceeds to step 368and the borrower information entered in the data fields is stored. Theprocess then returns to step 358. At step 370, in response to a borrowerselection such as logout or closing of a browser window used to make theinitial connection to the system, the process terminates.

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary initial entry web page 400 which maysuitably be produced by performing step 204 of the process 200. Theentry web page 400 employs an Internet browser 402 to display anInternet web page 404 which may be navigated to by the URL 406. Theentire web page 404 is not visible at one time, but desired portions maybe displayed by scrolling up and down and additional portions of the webpage 404 are illustrated in FIG. 4B.

FIG. 4B illustrates the browser 402 displaying a further portion of theweb page 404, including a first hypertext link 408 allowing a user toview available offers, as well as second and third hypertext links 410Aand 410B, selection of which connects to another web page which allowsthe user to perform initial registration or login following a previousregistration. FIG. 4B also illustrates descriptions of various availableoffers, including hypertext links 412A-412D. Clicking on the hypertextlinks 412A-412D does not provide access to the offers described, butinstead connects to the same login web page to which a user may navigateby clicking one of the links 410A or 410B. The web page 404 can bescrolled further down to display additional offer descriptions andlinks, not illustrated here in order to avoid redundancy.

FIG. 5 illustrates the browser 402 displaying a web page 502 forallowing a borrower to choose initial registration or login afterinitial registration. The web page 502 includes a borroweridentification field 504, a borrower password field 506, and a logininformation submission link 508. The web page 502 further includes alender identification field 510, a lender password field 512 and alender information submission link 514. Submitting the properinformation in the correct fields and selecting the associated linksubmits the information for authentication. If the borrower hasforgotten his login information, he can click on the “forgot username orpassword” link 515 in order to retrieve this information.

FIG. 6A illustrates the browser 402 displaying a web page 602, reachedupon proper submission of lender identification information and anassociated lender password. The web page 602 includes data entry fields604-626 for entering a chosen username and password as well as personalinformation.

FIG. 6B illustrates the browser 402 displaying the web page 602 afterthe web page 602 has been scrolled down to reveal additional elements.Data entry fields 616-626 are visible, as well as the additional dataentry fields 628 and 630, for entering a password reminder question andanswer, respectively. The web page 602 also includes a registrationinformation submission link 632, which can be clicked by the borrower tosubmit the registration information.

FIG. 7 illustrates the browser 402 displaying a web page 702, after theborrower has submitted registration information by clicking the link632. The selected username 704 and password 706 are displayed, as wellas a “continue” link 708.

FIG. 8A illustrates the browser 402 displaying a web page 802 displayedafter the borrower has clicked the “continue” link 708. The web page 802includes a privacy policy describing rules and guarantees relating tocollection of borrower information and its use in the system. Theremainder of the privacy policy, and mechanisms for accepting orrejecting the privacy policy, are illustrated in FIG. 8B and discussedbelow.

FIG. 8B illustrates the browser 402 displaying the web page 802, whichhas been scrolled down to reveal the remainder of the privacy policy, aswell as a checkbox 804 for declining notices or other communication, aswell as an “accept” link 806 and a “decline” link 808 for accepting orrejecting the privacy policy. For purposes of illustration, the“decline” link 808 has been clicked to reveal a message box 810explaining that the borrower has declined participation in the programby declining the privacy policy, and that the borrower will be eligibleto participate if the borrower closes the message box 810 and clicks the“accept” link 808 to accept the privacy policy. If the borrower clicksthe “click to close” link 812, the message box 810 will disappear andthe buyer will be free to accept the privacy policy by clicking the“accept” link 806.

FIG. 9A illustrates the browser 402 displaying a login web page 902. Theweb page 902 is connected to and displayed after the borrower hasclicked the link indicating acceptance of the privacy policy or hasperformed a new login subsequent to initial registration, using theusername and password selected during registration. The web page 902displays the borrower's name 904, username 906, and date of expirationof program membership 908, as well as a hypertext link 910 which can beselected in order to revise or update borrower information. The web page902 also includes descriptions of, and hyperlinks for accessing, anumber of special offers. Additional portions of the web page 902 can beseen in FIG. 9B below.

FIG. 9B illustrates the browser 402 displaying the web page 902 afterthe web page 902 has been scrolled down. Visible here are instructionsfor accessing offers, as well as hypertext links 912-922. Each of thelinks 912-922 is accompanied by promotional material describing theoffer. The web page 902 includes additional offer descriptions andlinks, but these are not shown here in order to avoid redundancy.

FIG. 10A illustrates a new browser window 1002, displaying a web page1004, reached when a borrower clicked on the link 912 shown in FIG. 9B.The web page is reached by providing the URL 1006 to the browser 1002.

It will be recognized that the URL includes the personal informationprovided during registration for the system 100. When the borrowerclicks on a link to access an offer, the registration information issubmitted to the vendor providing the offer. It will also be recognizedthat the URL 1006 includes the lender identifier provided atregistration. Providing this information lets the vendor providing theoffer know which lender introduced the borrower to the system. Thevendor can use this information in developing relationships with lendersand their customers. For example, if many borrowers taking advantage ofan offer were introduced by a particular lender, the vendor making thatoffer may find it advantageous to develop special marketing programsdirected to borrowers from that lender. In addition, the vendor maycollect and store personal information relating to borrowers who consentto this collection and storage by the vendor. As noted above, aconsumer's use of the system 100 tends to identify him or her as aparticularly desirable consumer for vendors who market products orservices for consumers in his or her category, such as relocatingconsumers. The vendor's collection and storage of personal informationrelating to such consumers provides the vendor with a personalinformation database for a group of highly desirable consumers. Thisinformation may be used to develop mailing lists, for example, or forother marketing efforts targeting consumers for which personalinformation has been stored.

The web page 1004 allows the borrower to order a discount coupon bysubmitting an order form 1008. The order form 1008 is filled out usingthe registration information originally provided by the borrower andcontained in the URL 1006, but the borrower is able to change theinformation contained in the order form 1008 as desired beforesubmission.

FIG. 10B illustrates the web page 1004 after the web page 1004 has beenscrolled down. Additional instructions and explanatory material can beseen, as well as a check box 1010 allowing the borrower to choosewhether or not to receive promotional material from the vendor, and ahypertext link 1012 allowing the borrower to submit the form 1008.

FIGS. 11A-11C show the browser 1002 displaying a web page 1102 reachedafter the borrower has clicked the link 1012. The web page 1102 displaysvarious welcome and promotional messages, as well as a set of links1104-1114 to allow the borrower to obtain further information or takefurther action.

Because each borrower can be identified with the lender who introducedhim or her to the system, the set of offers to be presented can bedesigned so as to operate differently for customers of differentlenders, in order to meet the needs of the lender. For example, in thesystem 100 of FIG. 1, the lender 110B may offer its borrowers a packageof products or services and may not wish to provide offers for competingproducts or services to its borrowers. To take another example, thelender 110D may choose to subsidize an offer for its customers and maytherefore desire that such an offer be provided only to borrowers whoregistered using the lender identifier provided by lender 110D. Byarrangement with the service provider 104, the lender 110B can directthat borrowers who registered using its lender identifier be providedwith an abbreviated set of offers, in order to avoid competing withgoods or services offered by the lender 110B and the lender 110D candirect that borrowers who registered using the lender identifierprovided by lender 110D will be provided with an offer not available toother borrowers. Selections of the offers which are to be made availableand limitations or restrictions on which offers are going to be madeavailable are typically the result of agreements between the serviceprovider 104 and a lender such as the lender 110B or 110D. Theindividual lenders do not have exclusive power to control or changewhich offers will be made available to its borrowers.

FIG. 12 illustrates a browser 1202 displaying a web page 1204, reachedupon connecting to the server 102 using a hyperlink provided by acomputer maintained by a lender who wishes to present a limitedselection of offers. The web page 1204 displays a lender logo 1206 and aset of offers 1208-1212. The set of offers 1208-1212 is abbreviatedcompared, for example, to the set of offers displayed on the web page802 above. When a borrower registers using a lender identifierpreviously provided by the lender who selected the offers to bepresented, or logs in with a username and password generated uponregistration using the lender identifier provided by the lender 110B, alogin web page will be presented similar to the login web page 802,except that the web page 1204 will includes only the offers 1208-1212.

While the present invention is disclosed in the context of aspects of anembodiment employing a specific system and exemplary web pages, it willbe recognized that a wide variety of implementations may be employed bypersons of ordinary skill in the art consistent with the abovediscussion and the claims which follow below.

1. An offer presentation system for identifying consumers as belongingto a designated category and allowing access to offers by consumers whoare members of the designated category, comprising: a database of offersaccessible through connection by consumer operated computers uponauthentication of consumer registration; an offer presentation modulefor managing access to the database of offers; and a consumerregistration module allowing registration of a consumer for access tothe offer presentation module, the consumer registration module allowingregistration of a consumer upon submission of identifying informationprovided to the consumer by a party who has verified the consumer'smembership in the designated category and used to identify the consumeras belonging to the designated category, wherein the designated categoryis consumers who have recently applied for a home loan.
 2. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the consumer registration module allows the consumer toselect a unique consumer username and a password after providing theidentifying info oration.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the consumerregistration module solicits personal information from the consumerduring registration, associates the personal information with theconsumer username and stores the personal information in associationwith the consumer username during registration.
 4. The system of claim3, wherein the consumer registration module associates the consumerusername with the identifying information and stores the identifyinginformation in association with the consumer username duringregistration.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the consumerregistration module is hosted on a server connected to the Internet andwherein the consumer gains access to the consumer registration module byactivating a hypertext link to navigate to a web page serving as aportal to the consumer registration module.
 6. The system of claim 5,wherein the database of offers includes a hypertext link for each offerand wherein the consumer can activate the hypertext link for an offer inorder to access the offer.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein one or moreoffers is accessible only if predetermined conditions have been met. 8.The system of claim 7 wherein activating a hypertext link for an offercauses the transmission of the identifying information, the consumerusername and the consumer personal information to a server hosting theoffer.
 9. The system of claim 8 wherein the consumer username andpersonal information is examined to determine if the consumer meets anypredetermined conditions established for access to the offer.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9 wherein the server hosting the offer is able to retainthe consumer personal information for use in future marketing efforts.11. The system of claim 10 wherein the server determines which offersare available to the consumer depending on the identifying informationassociated with the consumer username.
 12. The system of claim 11wherein the party identifying the consumer as belonging to thedesignated category is a lender and wherein the identifying informationis provided to the consumer when the consumer has applied for the homeloan with the lender.
 13. The system of claim 11 wherein a serveroperated by the party identifying the consumer as belonging to thedesignated category utilizes the retained consumer personal informationin future marketing efforts.
 14. A method for presenting offers toconsumers who are members of a designated category, comprising the stepsof: providing a consumer with an identifier upon verification of theconsumer's membership in the designated category by a party providingthe identifier, wherein the designated category is consumers who haverecently applied for a home loan; receiving the identifier whenpresented by the consumer; authenticating the identifier; uponauthentication of the identifier, allowing the consumer to register hisidentity; and upon completion of registration, allowing the consumeraccess to a selection of offers.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein thestep of receiving the identifier includes establishing a connection to aconsumer computer upon a request by the consumer, presenting an initiallogin form for display on the consumer computer, the form including oneor more fields for input of the identifier by the consumer, andreceiving submission of the identifying information.
 16. The method ofclaim 15 wherein the step of allowing the consumer to register his orher identity includes presenting a registration form for display on theconsumer computer, the form including one or more fields for entry bythe consumer of registration information including a consumer usernameand password selected by the consumer as well as for consumer personalinformation, receiving submission of the consumer username, password andconsumer personal information and storing the consumer username,password and personal information in association with the identifier.17. The method of claim 16 wherein the connection to the consumercomputer is established over the Internet.
 18. The method of claim 17wherein the initial login form is a web page including a hypertext linkfor submission of the identifying information and the registration formis a web pages including a hypertext link for submission of theregistration information.
 19. The method of claim 18 and wherein thestep of registering the identity of the consumer is followed by the stepof presenting a login form to the consumer, the login form including oneor more hyperlinks which can be activated by the consumer in order togain access to offers.
 20. The method of claim 19 wherein the step ofallowing the consumer access to the selection of offers includespresenting a selection of offer descriptions to the consumer, each offerdescription being accompanied by a hyperlink which can be activated bythe consumer in order to retrieve additional information and offermaterials.